Montana has fewer children living in poverty and more have health insurance, ranking the Treasure State 23rd for overall child well-being, which may be a result of Medicaid expansion, according to a study released late Tuesday.

In 2010, 20 percent of Montana children lived in poverty and that dropped to 15 percent in 2016, according to the 2018 Kids Count data book by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The study also says cuts to the U.S. Census Bureau has made it more difficult for it to determine an accurate count of people living in the United States.

Thale Dillion, director of Montana Kids Count, notes this information is needed in understanding challenges children face, what programs are effective and if Casey Foundation money is being invested effectively.

Nationally, about 1.6 million fewer children are living in poverty than five years ago, more parents are employed and fewer families are spending a disproportionate amount of their income on housing costs, the report states.

In 2016, one in five children lived in poverty nationwide and 13 percent of kids lived in a high-poverty neighborhood. It also noted a “slight uptick in the percentage of children with health insurance,” which it credited to key provisions and expansions for public health programs.

New Hampshire ranked as the top state for child well-being and New Mexico ranked at the bottom of the study.

Locally, the report brought mixed feelings.

“I’d love to tell you that I felt that report was accurate but I don’t see that in our area, since we opened the Cameron Family Center we are full all the time,” said Jim Kizer, executive director of the Great Falls Rescue Mission. “I wish it was true, but it has not been my experience.”

Kizer said there are food pantries in schools that provide food to families in need.

D.J. Lott, executive director of Family Promise of Great Falls, a nonprofit, nontraditional shelter to end childhood homelessness, called the new numbers “encouraging.”
“Often times it does not reflect the number of kids who are homeless,” he said, adding the “face of homelessness has changed from 10-20 years ago.”

Lott said the recession of 2008 created a whole new demographic of people struggling.

And then there are drugs.

“Opiods are another factor why families are homeless,” he said.

Lott said if children are getting access to health care that is a positive.

The report notes a “bright spot” for Montana is more children with health insurance. Montana moved from 45th to 33rd. The study found the number of children being uninsured decreased from 12 percent in 2010 to 5 percent in 2016, which means 17,000 fewer Montana children are without health insurance.

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The Cameron Family Center is helping about 124 people a night, officials said.(Photo: TRIBUNE PHOTO/JULIA MOSS)

“Parents getting insured through Medicaid expansion likely led to more kids getting insurance as well,” said Bryce Ward, director of health care research at the Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

A report released in March found Medicaid expansion in Montana now insures about 93,950 people, generates more than $500 million a year in health care spending, has provided $902 million in health care services and saved about $40 million in Medicaid benefits.

The 2015 state Legislature passed the HELP Act, which went into effect in 2016, as part of 32 states that adopted the federal Affordable Care Act, commonly called “Obamacare.”

Officials tout HELP as a “uniquely Montana solution” as it accepts federal funds to expand Medicaid eligibility to low-income people and has them pay monthly premiums as well as co-payments for certain services. It encourages people to participate in the work force as enrollees participate in a workplace assessment survey to help people get better-paying jobs.

When the plan was approved by the state Legislature in 2015, the governor's office estimated 70,000 people or more would be eligible for coverage. HELP is set to expire in 2019.

The Kids Count study also said Montana’s teen birth rate improved, noting the rate has dropped every year since 2010, from 35 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19 to 24 births per 1,000 in 2016.

The Casey foundation is a Baltimore-based private philanthropy that provides grants that help local, state and federal governments aid children.

The decline in the number of uninsured children “likely reflects the continued federal funding for Medicaid expansion and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is uncertain, “putting these gains at risk.”

In other rankings, Montana was 17th in economic well-being. Montana saw gains in all four economic well-being indicators, from 2010-2016. The most notable gain in economic well-being is the decrease in the percentage of children living in poverty.

Montana is ranked 10th for the percentage of children in households that spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, the state’s highest ranking indicator in this domain.

The report listed Montana as 46th in health saying the state struggles with high death rates for children and youth. Montana ranks 42nd for the percentage of teens who abuse alcohol and drugs.

The report also ranked Montana 20th in education, saying it slipped from 17th from the year before, primarily because of a decrease in eighth-grade math proficiency. In 2017, 63 percent of eighth-graders scored below proficient in math, compared to 54 percent in 2011.